I love playing this deck, thanks for the idea! The games I've played with it have been nail-biters but anything that creates repeatable Dinrova Horrors is a fun deck in my book.

I was looking at trying that list too, it seems like someone finally found a decent shell for Mercurial Pretender. I think I would want Pharika's Chosen in there, though, and would personally cut both Suffers and both Ragers. I haven't played it yet, though, so I could be wrong.

I think I would also cut one Rescue from the Underworld for the second Rune-Scarred Demon. You have Undying Evil to blank some removal, so Rescue feels like a late-game bullet rather than a core card and the Demons let you tutor it if necessary.

He made an addendum that has 4 Pharika's Chosen in it (cuts the Ragers and Inspiration). I don't know if Suffer the Past is necessary or not given I've only played 4 games, but I went 4-0 and I won one of the four because I cast Suffer the Past when my opponent swung in for lethal, which meant I survived and killed a couple of creatures that prevented a second lethal swing.

That particular game was an amazing game where my opponent blanked Shadowborn Demon and Dinrova Horror by casting God's Willing FOUR times during the match. I only ended up winning by casting Mercurial Pretender on Shadowborn Demon, returning it, then casting again several times. Probably in a normal match Suffer the Past isn't necessary, but I don't know.

I don't think cutting Inspiration and Rager is the way to go, this deck doesn't seem like it can handle running out of resources or missing multiple land drops. Suffer and Rescue are both dependent on the graveyard so they could be dead or suboptimal draws in a lot of cases; I think one copy of Rescue is worth it for the lategame because of all the EtBs going on here, but the rest of the graveyard-based cards are expendable. Suffer is pure SB material, it's not a good enough maindeck card in this format IMO.

Regarding the manabase, I'd add a Swamp and cut an Island.

Yeah, I like the idea behind this build. I would deff cut the 2 suffer and 2 underworld for starts if I were to take this deck out for a spin.

Funny you both agree on the Suffer and Rescue.
Rescue I believe your right. Sometimes I Recue to drop 2 Liliana's when they just Think twiced. Or back when I had Rager's in it to double draw. But, prob unneccassary at this point. Amazing to use. but sucks to have 1 or 2 of those in hand, a quickling and Mercurial, meaning no casting anything. lol. It's rare but happens, so Ill try cutting back to 1. best is double dipping with Shadowborn and Dinrova.

But, Suffer the Past. Before I added that card I played about 30 games with this deck. and only decks that I had trouble with were Séance and Spider Spawning. After adding it they weren't as much of a problem. Opponent casts Séance, I pause, see 2 Value cards in his grave, Pellaka Wurm, etc, I have 3 open mana. Cast Suffer, I remove those targets, gain 2 health he loses 2 and Séance targets garbage and now Im fighting vs AI. lol
But, Suffer also was to help since I was double dipping with ragers and got tired of me self killing my health. So suffer seemed to play a double role.

Also had a few games like Dh50 has stated. opponent swings for lethal. I suffer the past, and trade knowing next turn Im dropping Dinrova and double dipping it to remove 2 of his creatures and turning the game in my favor.

to many people Overextend when they see lethal, Suffer the past can turn that to your favor. So I'd never cut them. Love holding onto one for when it really matters.

Glad you like the deck Dh50.

You make a good argument for Suffer the Past Hanika. It deals damage, heals life, and gets rid of cards in the GY. It also only costs 1 before X and is an Instant. I think it is being undervalued and overlooked (including by myself), good call. I look forward to playing this deck.

Edit: Sorry, just realized I misspelled your name Hanika, lol.

Ok, 2Best almost talked me outta Suffer on steam. But I played 3 more games, 2 against a counter deck, stopping me cold once I got their life to around 7. Another against a burn that did the same. Only to cast Suffer on their GY full of counter/burn, So I top-decked Suffer and won.

I won't remove Rescue, try the deck, Rescue is a lot of times a turn 5 play. late game it's a game sealer.
I cast Shadow born a lot knowing I'll sac him to himself if I don't have a way to save him. Knowing I'll rescue him later.
Many games I've had Liliana's specter ALMOST eat a Auger spree, only to Cast rescue to double dip turn 5.
Or Block then right before Damage, sac that creature and bring liliana back.

Ok, updated the list. Changed land as Hakeem said. Didn't even realize, but looks like it's premium heavy. 12 cards premium. I forget whats premium so had to go look.

Mercurial Evil (Premium Heavy)

20 Creatures:
4 Pharika's Chosen
3 Quickling
4 Liliana's Specter
3 Guard Gomazoa
2 Mercurial Pretender
1 Shadowborn Demon
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
2 Dinrova Horror

16 Spells:
4 Undying Evil
4 Think Twice
4 Vapor Snag
2 Suffer the Past
2 Rescue From the Underworld

24 Lands:

8 Island
12 Swamp
4 Dimir Guildgate

I actually kept fighting myself on that. But, faced many Treason/Sac decks. And everytime I cast Rune-Scarred for 7, I wished it was a Dinrova for 6. Only reason I have him is for the tutor. Swear the few times I draw him he gets treasoned and flung back at me, again Dinrova woulda been better. I coulda put that sac creature back in there hand.
Plus Dinrova leaves 1 mana open if your at 7 meaning a vapor snag/undying evil play if necessary.
I'm still on the fence about ditching him for a 3rd Dinrova. Last 10 games with this deck the 5 times he came up Dinrova woulda been a better card. But, I love that demon.

You know unless you have just found the 6/6 Flying is what is making the demon shine (or you are tutoring something other than Dinrova) I wouldn't hesitate to make the switch. I haven't played the deck yet though, so I'm not sure. I might do that now, take this beast out for a spin!

Alright, so I played 5 games with this thing and so far I have to say it rocks Hanika. I went 4-1 and the 1 loss was against a seance/doubling season selesnya build where I both a) never drew suffer and b) got mana flooded from hell. Even then I still stalled for seemingly forever before finally he just begins to overrun me with tokens. I beat mono-white tokens, low curved goblin RDW, and had a couple RQs as well, lol. This was a ton of fun, a keeper in my book!

As far as Rune-Scarred goes I would definitely keep him in. He helped me more than once getting me the right card when I needed it. One game I tutored up Rescue and then was able to use it on him the next turn to do more tutoring plus get something back from the GY. Mercurial is a superstar here as well. This is a great build Hanika, welcome to the forums!

16 by my count (4 x Pharika's Chosen, 4 x Liliana's Specter, 4 x Think Twice, 4 x Vapor Snag). Not that that matters really, premium is premium, either your deck has them or it doesn't.

Regarding your build; I really like it. You seem to be having more luck with your Dimir build than I am with mine, hehe. I really like how you've implemented Mercurial Pretender. Anyways, cool deck.

Glad you like it Nebula. And thanks DJ.

After play testing it against someone good at control. 2Bestest, I got slaughtered several games. His land destruction crippled me a few times. Plus the usual, mana probs etc. Funny I was on a long win streak, then Played him and Was thinking twice about the deck. lol
Same thing with another of his control builds. Anyone with a real Long game plan, that knows what he's doing, becomes a problem with this deck, depend to much on getting the right cards when you need them.
(Although a bit of that might also be opponent having the knowledge of what the decks plan is, like leaving one black open for a Undying, etc.)

So as much as I hated to, -2 Suffer the past, -1 Rescue from the underworld. +3 Voyage's end.
So far like being able to scry and also hold off big fatties to slow them down. Still testing, had one match were I wish the Voyage I drew was a Suffer like previous build, but we'll see. lol
Also once wished that Voyage was a rescue, so Im back and forth. Love the deck, and seem to mop up on randoms.

Good moments. had a Rune-Scarred out, he already had Indulgent Tormentor. I cast Undying on Rune. Select sacrifice Rune. lol
Liking it a lot better with the Voyage's End. Pretty huge to be able to go, yeah, I don't need more mana next turn. Then drawing Dinrova.

IMO, Voyage's End on late game bombs with EtB effects (Rune-Scarred, Pelakka, Inferno Titan) might hit you harder than your opponent. I'd instead sneak in some removal or conter-spells to prevent those creatures from returning back to table. But that's just me.

The way I look at Voyages End is, more stall capability early on and scry to get to the later rounds, then later rounds use it to save your guys or just return them to hand to abuse the etbs. Its just an added bonus to return a fat guy of opponent if needed.

I would also strongly consider removing the Quicklings and adding in Talrand to get extra benefit from all the spells you're casting and if you take out the graveyard card, you can get your 3 cost cantrip ragers in there too. This gives you more targets to abuse all your bouncing/undying, more card draw, and more benefits from all your spells.

I think the Quicklings are better served in a more aggressive deck.

I think with these changes you will see far more consistent results against solid players. (And if you're better against solid players then your better suited against the pathetic nubs that are random players too )

well that kinda starts to morph the deck into something else.

And I was on another win streak until I hit another player that was all control. That's where this deck has probs. Both decks you used against me in our battles were that style. I'm not big on all the archtypes names, but low level draw creatures, Vissionary, wall omens, etc. lots of card draw and removal, drop bombs.
Not trying to make that sound bad, I love that style as well, but its the direct counter to this. What is that control? Late game control? I dunno. But my Abandon All hope deck is W/B/G and its the same deal. Love it, but still shares too much in common with a few others I've built.
Run white? Insert Baneslayer, Red? Inferno titan. Lots of Low level chump card draw blockers and best removal from each color, best Big creature bombs.

Against all the agro I love this deck, and most of the other archtypes, But late game heavy control stops it unless you get great draw. If you fall on mana drops, prob wont be able to catch up. When you want for your creatures to stick so you can bounce and play with them with Quickling etc. That can't happen if nothing sticks. lol

I actually had the perfect set up and every card I needed to start the roll next turn, then you sweeped with Anger and all my stuff in hand needed at least one creature to still be there. lol
Can't make a deck counter everything. This one falls apart to a good control deck. Piloted well. Which you do.

Had one against a Token, Sanguine bond/Angelic Accord deck, game took 45 minutes, I won. I stalled long enough where I got up the mana to start double dipping Dinrova's each turn to remove all the crap he built up and then he left game. 45 minutes later. lol
But first Dinrova hit and got rid of Angelic accord. Stalled a good 5 turns until I got Mercurial out. I had 4 life left, he had 48. But, I kept getting what I needed a few turns in a row and started a landslide. So much fun to Keep transmorming mercurial in a turn. Bouncing him to hand, Copy Dinrova, Bounce to hand, Copy Dinrova. end turn. lol

2best, I see. But as I have already mentioned I noticed the biggest weakness of bounce builds is late game EtB bombs (and EtB creatures in general) that can ruin your plan if opponent doesn't discard them or top decks into them.

Regarding that Quickling - I felt it's out of place in my build too and I'm currently deciding on what to swap instead of him... Here's what my list looks like at the moment:

Creatures x 16

2 x Quickling
4 x Liliana’s Specter
1 x Talrand, Sky Summoner
2 x Archaeomancer
1 x Indulgent Tormentor
1 x Shadowborn Demon
2 x Dinrova Horror
1 x Rune-Scarred Demon

Spells x 20

4 x Vapor Snag
2 x Void Snare
2 x Suffer the Past
4 x Voyage's End
2 x Nullify
2 x Think Twice
4 x Mind Rot
1 x Inspiration
1 x Time Warp


I run 4 Guildgates atm but thinking about switching to basic lands (as in my last year's Dimir) only, because gates often slow down my early turns or prevent from casting several spells a turn in later game.

@Hanika I agree, the only "weakness" is a solid late-game control deck, but even then I maybe win half the time instead of most the time. I don't think removing the Suffers and the 2nd Rescue is the best change, but then again you have tested this build a lot more than I have. I just know if I had drawn Suffer in the game I lost I would have won and Rescue is an amazing card in this build. I wouldn't run 3, but 2 seems perfect.